Operation: Son of Adam
by StregaAradia
Summary: Jadis' first plan is not to simply trust Edmund Pevensie with her enemies' destruction.  Instead, she sends in Lady Ilyandra to 'deal with' the Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve.  Rated 'T' for violence.
1. A New Mission

**A New Mission**

_(Part One)_

"I have another job for you."

As always, the Queen's voice sends chills down my spine. I cannot look up from the floor – my back still stings from the last time I dared to look her in the eye – but she still senses the resentment coursing through me. Fighting against it, I swallow the retort building in my throat.

"You would speak."

_No, I really wouldn't_. "Your Majesty is too kind."

"Speak, girl!"

I cannot help but flinch from the ice in the stinging slap of her voice, though the bitter bile pooling in my belly lurches; I have given her the pleasure of my fear. "I…" There is no help for it now. I will have to voice something, and she can spot lies all too easily. "Your Majesty gave your word that my previous mission was my last."

"Ah," she says softly, and I know there is a great deal of pain in my near future. "So, here it is. The rebellion begins at last, child, as I finally see the ingratitude and hatred buried deep in your soul."

"No!" I make the mistake of looking up, though I catch myself before I look higher than her shoulders. Cold sweat soaks my undertunic. _So close._ "No, Your Majesty, there is no rebellion in me. You have been so good to me, so kind, giving me employment, shelter, food."

I _feel_ her raise an eyebrow. "Then what is this? What exactly is this?"

"I…" I am already tensed for the lash, knowing there is no way out now. "I thought, perhaps, of seeing my family again."

"And you will, Ilyandra," says the Queen, and her voice is too soft, too gentle. "You will see your family again – _when I no longer have any need of you!_"

I flinch again, bowing my head further. My heart is racing like a horse. "Yes, Your Majesty. I am yours to command, Your Majesty."

"Good." She leans back, and I feel the space around my lungs expand again. "I want you to go to the Western Woods, to the Lantern Wastes. Soon, there will come a Son of Adam."

_A son of Adam?_ My heart stops for a second. I know what she will ask of me, and I know I will have no choice but to accept, though everything in me rebels.

"I want you to kill him for me. Him," and she leans forwards again until I swear I feel the ice of her breath on my neck, "and anyone with him."

Prepared for this, it still takes my breath. _Kill a son of Adam?_ "Yes, Your Majesty," I say calmly, denying the heat swirling in my heart.

"Proceed at once, girl, and hasten back to report when it is done."

I know a dismissal when I hear one. I stand, bow as low as I can. "It shall be done, Your Majesty." I click my heels together and, as I turn to leave, catch sight of the envious glare of Maugrim. I give him my customary nod. As always, he neglects to nod back. I permit myself the tiniest shiver as I reach the doors, knowing that, inside that evil head of his, he wishes he could be the one to take down the Son of Adam.

_I will not do it_, I tell myself. Disgraced I may be, exiled I may be, I may have made a living these past three years by killing people on the Queen's demands, but this… I will not, _cannot_ do this.

After all, the boy probably has no idea what's happening to him. No idea what his arrival means. No idea how all of us have hoped and prayed for his coming all these long years, how we've prayed for him more than anyone but Aslan.

And I cannot kill the future King of Narnia.


	2. The Investigation

**The Investigation**

_(Part Two)_

A cave entrance, near the Great Lantern Waste, its door tightly closed against the snows. I rack my memory. Tumnus. A Faun, never a proud servant of Her Majesty – an informer, but only in the way that everyone alive is an informer. I've done worse, myself. _Much worse. _

I leap through the snow to his door. My fist rams against it again and again. "Open up, in the name of the Queen!"

It takes a minute, but the door does creak open, just enough to show a familiarly frightened face. "Yes?"

The spark of new defiance in his eyes gives me hope. "I have need of your help, Master Tumnus."

"Lady Ilyandra!" His whole face lights with fear for a second, then shuts right down. "I'm very busy right now, so I think you'd better-"

"It's to do with the Son of Adam." It's a risk, but I have no choice. They could come at any time, and I have to intercept them before they run into trouble.

"The Son of…?" He blinks. "Come in out of the snow, my lady."

Oh, warmth. My skin is grateful for the change in temperature as he leads me into his home, and I am more than a little tempted by the soft seats near the fire – I have been running for hours – but I resist. I turn instead to my host. "The Queen knows about the Son of Adam."

"I know no Son of Adam," he says warily.

My heart sinks – I know the truth when I hear it. "I see I have wasted your time." Breathing is difficult now – how am I to find them without inside information? – but I look down to gather my thoughts. I weigh the risks carefully before speaking, but even as the words leave my mouth I know I am committed to this either way, whether the Queen finds out or not. I am not hers anymore, and she'll know one way or another soon enough. "If you do see the Son of Adam anywhere…" I look Tumnus hard in the eye. "By Aslan, Tumnus, you get him out."

He blinks, stares at me.

"Her Majesty wants him and all his companions dead. Hide them, send them back, whatever you have to do – just don't let her get her hands on them!"

I am turning for the door when he speaks.

"I know no Son of Adam… but a Daughter of Eve passed this way yesterday."

_No…_ "And you let her go _alone_?" Tumnus flinches away from the stare I turn on him. And well he might – to let someone so important wander Narnia on her own!

"No. She went back home, to her…family." His eyes meet mine, and I understand.

I open my mouth to say something, anything – _are there four of them? _being the uppermost question in my mind – but, outside…

I flatten myself against the wall at the sound of a familiar pawstep against the drifts of snow, dragging Tumnus with me, my hand over his mouth. "Wolves," I whisper into his ear, and he stiffens. I can feel his lips trembling against my hand. A familiar scent blows to me through the tiniest of gaps under his door. "Maugrim," I amend, and Tumnus begins to shake all over. We haven't much time. If they find me here, they will kill me for sure. Then who will there be to warn the Son of Adam?

My free hand tugs loose my dagger, holding it palm-flat against my leg.

Tumnus mutters something against my palm. I release him reluctantly. "What?"

"Back window," he repeats, his eyes darting that way.

It is a tiny, circular thing, little wider than my shoulders. On a latch, I could perhaps wriggle out, but… I glance down at his furry hocks and swallow hard.

"Go." His face is tight, but I can feel his heart beating faster than a wolf can run.

"You'll never-"

"Just go," he interrupts me, beginning to shift a little in his nervousness, fists opening and closing. "Help the Sons and Daughters of Adam and Eve. They need you more than they need me."

_He'll be turned to stone_. We both know it. Something inside my heart physically tears when I see the terror and resolve deep in his eyes, but I nod and move as lightly as I can towards the back window.

At the last second, just as I am about to swing out and drop into the drift below, he catches my arm. "Go with Aslan, Lady Ilyandra."

"Go with Aslan, friend," I reply. The words tingle on my lips, and I realise today is the first time I've said His name in three whole years. I grip his shoulder tightly in farewell. "Be safe."

It is more a wish, a hope, than an expectation, and to his credit he manages a thin, terrified smile in response. "Don't worry about me," he says, too cheerily. "I'm finally doing something _right_."

I drop into the snow drift without another word. The trees watch, even here, I know, but I run into their embrace anyway, heading back for Lantern Waste. It is as I reach the treeline that I hear him scream, followed by the echoing howl of triumph I know all too well.

"Guard him well, Great Aslan," I murmur, and another tingle goes through me as I realise this is my first prayer since I landed in Narnia.

Praying with all my might that I not be too late, I race for the Lantern and the chance to save the future Kings and Queens of Narnia.


	3. Decision at the Lantern Wastes

**Decision at the Lantern Wastes**

_(Part Three)_

_There._ Approaching the light-pole were four figures, small, uncertain, stumbling through the snow. _Children_, I think, and my heart stops. The tallest removes his hood, shrugging off the snow to point at the light and turn on his fellows, and I see he is, without doubt, a Son of Adam.

When the others remove their hoods, there are two Daughters of Eve and another Son of Adam. _The four who were spoken of_… Tumnus was right.

But under the light, I see something that shatters my hopes. The younger Son of Adam is covered, head to toe, in a sickly blue light. I hold my hand up to the dimming light. Yes, there it is – the same pale blue light, surrounding every inch of me – mine is stronger, but I know all too well what it means. The younger Son of Adam has already been corrupted by the Queen.

_So that's how she knew._

The most important people in all of Narnia stand around that lamp, little realising there is a traitor in their midst, little knowing that I stand so close, that at a stroke I could obey orders. I could see my family again.

It is to the skies I look as I draw my dagger again. Though the sky is still light, a few of the Stars are twinkling through. If I could hear them, I know what they would have me do. I swallow as I look again to the blade that has sustained me through these three endless years, trapped in this land, trapped under this Queen, and all because of one little misdeed!

A change in the noise behind me. The Humans are moving. I tense, ready to leave my tree and follow –

That familiar smell. My head swings around. _There!_ Wolves, a whole pack, glowing blue themselves if anyone else could but see, heading straight for the Humans. The scout was almost within sight.

A quick check that I will not be seen. I duck around the other side of my tree, very still, very quiet. Closer bounds the Wolf, and closer still.

_Before he is seen._ I breathe in –

And spin around the tree, driving my dagger hilt-deep into his neck before he even notices I am there. The Wolf dies with only the faintest whimper, but I know that will be enough to bring down the whole pack on my position, and I fling a look over my shoulder as quickly as I can.

Our future rulers and saviours are being led, by the smallest among them, towards Tumnus' house. This, then, this little one, must be the Daughter of Eve he met with. I bite my lip, knowing what they will find there, hoping all the Wolves are now heading this way and none have remainded behind.

_They will be safe. _I know it. I have to know it.

The Wolves come within sight as I turn back. A full pack – thirteen of them, led by a brute almost as big as me. I steady myself as well I can, but the fear pulses through me and my legs shake. _I can't do this. Not this many._

Something warm soothes my heart, so suddenly, so unexpectedly, that I cannot help but look for the cause.

I fall back against the tree. Tears spill down my cheeks, and I do not know, I do not care, whether they are of joy or fear.

Some yards away, a little to my right through the trees, a great Lion stands in a shaft of sunshine. On his left stands my mother, proud in her shining crown of silver, and on his right, my father, dressed – as always – all in gold.

"Aslan." It escapes me as a whisper. There is no one else it can be. Happiness and pride fill my heart, and my legs will hold me again. I straighten, sheathing my murderous dagger for my pristine long knives, one in either hand.

The Great Lion inclines his head to me, and my parents smile. I blink away tears. And when I look again, they are gone.

Resolve settled, I face the charging Wolves again without fear. _By the will of Aslan_, I think,_ I will stop you here today._

The lead Wolf comes into sight, sees me. Slows. "Ilyandra," he snarls by way of greeting, wary eyes fixed on my knives, my stance.

"Skoro." My voice is calm now.

"What do you think you're doing?"

I ready for the charge I know must be coming. "What is right. I will not let you harm them, Skoro, and I will not hand them over to the Queen." _I said it. I didn't call her 'Her Majesty'. It feels so… liberating._

His head lowers, his canines bared. His pack follow suit. "Her Majesty will never return you to your family now," he warns. "You'll be a Fallen Star forever!"

"She might not return me to my place in the sky," I say, drawing on every bit of the haughtiness that was my birth-right as a Star, "but Aslan will."

He howls as I say the name, and the rest of the pack charges.

The first dies straight away, running onto my blade; another two dispatched with slashes to the throats; but the fourth gets through my guard, charges straight through, knocking me back against the tree. I see black spots in my eyes as my head slams into wood, but the pain of sudden fangs in my side brings me back. The Wolf has his jaws clamped around one side of my waist, trapping my left arm, but my right – and its blade – is still free. One-handedly, I stab him behind the ear. All the power goes from his bite. I tear him free, gasping as his teeth gouge their way out, and use his dead body to shield myself from the others, gathered around me now.

One hand automatically goes to my side, feeling the steady pump of hot stickiness. My side is on fire, my head spinning now, but the Wolves are all around and I cannot stop now. _What I wouldn't give for a bow._

My attempt to stand is easily foiled by the sudden rush of blackened pain through my skull. I sway. They pounce.

Two grab my legs and pull me, kicking and struggling, into the pack. To my advantage – my tight grip rips slashes along the bellies of the three my hands drag under, before two sets of jaws pin down my arms. I see the red rising in their eyes. My heart sinks to know I have raised the bloodlust in them.

"Skoro!" I hear myself shout. "Tell the Queen from me!"

The Wolves still, jaws trapping but not ripping my flesh yet, as we all hear their leader's distinctive growl. "I will bear your final words to Her Majesty, traitor."

I grab and twist the throats of those holding my arms, kick out with a double crunch into the spines of those holding my legs, and leap to my feet with the thump of four falling dead bodies. "Long live Aslan!" I shout, throwing my bloodied body towards the final two Wolves.

Even as I stab down through the back of the last Wolf pack-member, Skoro's mighty jaws latch around my chest. His body slams into mine, knocking me back to the ground. The impact smashes what little breath I have out of my lungs, his jaws clamped so tightly there is no more getting in.

_No air…_ I beat frantically at him, but the world is going black. He releases me just long enough to snarl, "Long live Jadis."

His claws gouge through my body as though it were paper. Pain tears me apart, dancing lights before my eyes telling me I've not got long. What the first injury has done to my insides is nothing, not compared to this. _No… _I think sluggishly as the world disappears with hot spurts from my neck and chest. _I have to win…_

A choking noise, and I force my failing eyes to see. Skoro's eyes, inches from mine, are glazing over with death. With one hand, I fumble for the object that killed him, cutting myself and not caring.

One of my knives. I must have still been holding it when I fell. Straight through the chest.

The world is leaving me behind.

"Praise Aslan," I choke out. "Home…"

And all around, the world descends into nothingness…


End file.
